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AT &T Park in San Francisco and O.co Coliseum in Oakland are part of this year’s first doubleheader opportunity available by ground in 2018. The Bay Area usually holds 3 – 4 doubleheader chances a year to attend full games in both parks.

Each year we write the full doubleheader master schedule to see all games you can in one year (within reasonable driving or ground distance to cover, if not see all of both games).

This season is no different, although this amount of contests is rapidly dwindling each campaign with staggered start times for a lot of clubs (in particular in April and on Saturdays), coupled with the time per game increasing, it makes it tougher than ever to watch 2 full games at venues.

We will add much more to this list as the year goes on, and definitely one thing to watch for is the ESPN Sunday Night Games TBD’s as the summer progresses.

Rogers Home Opener will be on Tuesday Apr 111, 2017, to kick off the 29th year the ballpark has been playing games there. Last year the Jays drew 3.4 Million Fans. and that is the biggest total since the World Series Years – or the 1st 5 years of the venue.

Best Source of Information for all 30 MLB Ballparks – and network of stadium afficionado’s

First off, if you have never been to one of the 30 MLB Parks, we don’t advise on doing a doubleheader as part of your initial experience with the venue. 2 Games in one day takes a lot of travel,planning, and receiving the utmost experience in a stadium requires time.

However, if you are already versed in a park, than we are giving you a list of all doable Doubleheaders for the entire 2017 Calendar MLB season,

Most of these are within 2 to 4 hours away from each other (if not a shorter distance.)

In my lifetime of ballpark chasing, I have now done almost 100 Doubleheaders as part of my journeys. The more baseball in a day, the better I feel.

In the meantime, consider visiting my buddy Craig’s website ballparkchasers.com – and for Park Guides to every cathedral in the MLN! If you have any questions about going to the park. hit my up – mlbreports@gmail.comRead the rest of this entry →

We go over this every season, but I am shocked to not see that much coverage on the issue. The American League has absolutely thrashed on the National League in Interleague for the last 13 years.

Don’t tell me this is an anomaly. This is a massive trend. Plus no, the answer is not to eliminate MLB Interleague to level out the playing field.

I am already not going to watch the ALL – Star Game this year because it doesn’t mean anything. Yes. I may be in the minority of the game actually being worth something in the MidSmmer Classic. For those keep scoring at home, the League that actually won the All Star Game incredibly played 3 less games than the loser thanks to MLB’s brilliant (insert sarcasm here) 2 – 3 – 2 format.

But I guess no one else remember’s guys high fiving each other in the dugout once they were lifted in the ALL – Star Game, so they could catch a plane. I will watch the HR Derby, and that is it. I digress.Read the rest of this entry →

So I have done about everything there is to do in for World Records in going to all the 30 MLB Parks. I was able to hit all 30 MLB Parks in just 23 Days during 2012, besting my own 2009 record of 30/24.

SunTrust Park will open up its gates for baseball for the 1st time ever on Friday Apr 14, 2017. It is the last home opener to have its game on the schedule for the 2017 Regular Season..IMAGE – Ballparksofbaseball.com

We are not too far away from Spring Training folks. That also means that the majority of the clubs have posted start times for all of their home openers upcoming to start the season.

After this post is published we will continue to monitor the schedule for any changes and will have them updated.

The season kicks off with a trio of games in Tampa Bay, Arizona and St. Louis on Sunday Apr 2, 2017 – and the last home opener will be at the new ballpark in Atlanta (SunTrust Stadium) on Friday Apr 14, (7:35).

For those of you that love ballparks as much as I do, if you click on the actual stadium highlighted itself, it will take you to some of the best advice on how to gameplan your Ball Park Chasing adventures.

Cleveland was one inning away from winning the World Series in 2017, knocked out the Boston Red Sox (who are the odds favorite in the AL currently) and have now added slugger Edwin Encarnacion to their lineup for 2017. Cleveland will also see AL MVP candidate Michael Brantley back to the roster for a full healthy year = after playing the majority of 2016 without his services. A great Pitching Staff, all around defense, combined with a well adjusted lineup, and cupcake Division to play in – and the Tribe should be the favorite to win the AL Pennant next campaign and not the Red Sox.

With the news that Edwin Encarnacion signing a 3 Year Deal Worth $55 MIL< and a Team Option for a 4th season that is $25 MIL – or a $5 MIL Buyout, the Indians have put themselves back into the lead as the favorite in the Junior Circuit.

So far, the oddsmakers don’t agree with that last statement, as the Red Sox are currently +475 to win the World Series – while Cleveland is listed at +700 to win the Fall Classic, but lets look at what Cleveland has going for it.

Michael Brantley is coming back (potentially fully healthy, and was a legitimate AL MVP candidate in 2014 and 2015. Now to have him as a 3/4 tandem with EE, you are talking about a great heart of the lineup.

Jason Kipnis and Francisco Lindor are full value to kickstart the offense. Both guys are capable of playing all world ALL – Star campaigns upcoming.

Carlos Santana had a career year for HRs (34) RBI (87) OPS (.865) and will still bring in his 100 Walks a year.

Jose Ramirez can hit 6th for me any time. Tyler Naquin held an .886 OPS in half a years worth AB en route to finishing 3rd in Rookie Of The Year Voting.

The Cleveland has ridden great drafting, trades and salaried contracts to put themselves into contention for the AL Pennant over the next couple of years. The last thing they need to do is try to deal the one Bullpen member who helped pushed them over the top in the Junior Circuit in 2016. At worst, start the season with Andrew Miller – and if things go horribly, you can always trade him midway through the year with ome other guys as well.

The 2016 season showed us just how valuable that a Relief Pitcher like Andrew Miller can be. Loaded with an arsenal of great Bullpen guys, Terry Francona flipped the coaching book on its keester by bringing back the old way that Relievers used to be implemented late in the games. I was a kid who would watch Goose Gossage mow down hitters as a hired gun late in contests.

We all saw it before our very own eyes. Now comes the most ridiculous notion ever of considering trading him? Really Cleveland?? You better not even fathom this until at least midway through the 2017 campaign.

I understand it is tough for a mid market club doling out $9M a year for a guy who might log 70 Innings – and not save the games he is in, but they just need to look at how good they fared in 2016.

The Tribe was without its best player all year in Michael Brantley, and also without Danny Salazar/Carlos Carrasco for the majority of the playoffs too. There is no way this club should have gone this far, and pushed the Cubs to the brink of elimination in the Fall Classic, before the reigning champs came back to ruin the party in Cleveland.

If I were in Chris Antonetti’s shoes I don’t start any dialogue about 2017’s roster without Andrew Miller on the opening day squad.

$9 Million is not earth shattering cash when you consider Andrew Cashner – and his bloated ERA of 5.25 just backed up his dome into Texas and settled for a cool $10 MIL for the 2017 season. If Cleveland can’t afford the guy they might as well pack up town in the middle of the night and head elsewhere (something that has happened in Cleveland before.) The 6 FT 7 – 31 Year old-fashioned a 10 – 1 record this year. with an incredible 123 Ks and just 9 BB in his 74.1 IP worth of work. Miller then fanned 30 batters, walked just five, while sporting a 1.40 ERA in 20.1 IP in the postseason, winning the ALCS MVP honors and nearly helped lead his team to Cleveland’s first WS win since 1948. If the goal is to win in the playoffs you can’t trade this guy right now. He is money there, and you have a chance to go back to October baseball again in 2017.

This 2016 AL Pennant squad should be conceivably better with a healthy Michael Brantley coming back, equaled with more seasoning from Tyler Naquin, and topped off with the emergence of Francisco Lindor/Jason Kipnis as an awesome double play combination.

it may be hard to fill the 34 HRs and 101 RBI that Mike Napoli brought forth, but one could still find a few cheap replacements to pull in some nice numbers. They could employ another DH full time like Pedro Alvarez on the cheap, and work in some against LHP – by bringing back Rajai Davis who crushes southpaws. Davis could act as a 4th OF in the midst of Naquin, Brantley and Lonnie Chisenhall.

The Indians still also have Brandou Guyer – who can handle a stick against LHP as well – and act as a DH/OF.

Cleveland is currently slated to pay around $105 MIL to all of its current guys. Maybe there is only a few million in the coffers to play in Free Agency this offseason, yet this teams strength is its Bullpen – so don’t trade from that position of strength.

Terry Francona should be given all ample bodies to begin the campaign. If it all goes awry during the season you can always trade some players midway through the year if it looks like it will not be their year.

Furthermore, I would ride the beginning of the year just like they ended the playoffs. I would not change anything at all out of the gate. I would start the year off by playing with a huge sense of urgency.

The way the rest of the AL Central is looking, with the Tigers and white Sox talking a bot cutting payroll and maybe going for a rebuild, combined with KC potentially selling on their pending Free Agents in the next couple of years like Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Lorenzo Cain and Wade Davis, then you could see how a quick Cleveland start could discourage the rest of the pack.

The Dodgers just set a record for innings logged into the playoffs and it served them well. The good news is the Indians can rely on their starters to provide some much needed rest for their late inning arms, by logging some of their own innings.

Go into frontrunner mode and let Francona figure out a way to get the likes of Miller, Allen and Shaw enough rest – so they can patchwork it through the end of the season.

Winning a bunch of games early, added with an awesome 2016 season – should see the Indians organization see a rise in attendance through the wickets to start the year. An early lead would only help the situation out. Cleveland should go all out to win in 2017. Go the way of the 2014 Royals turning a World Series loss into a repeat trip the next year.

Cleveland will need Miller’s skill set when it comes time for the playoffs too. This guy just seems to get better the more work he gets. Keep riding the horse.

The franchise is so lucky that they have Lindor in Pre-Arbitration status – and that despite missing almost all of the 2016 season – that Michael Brantley is criminally underpaid for his services on the board.

Kipnis, Kluber and Carrasco were also extended contracts at the exact perfect time. Having all these guys not cost a boatload is the reason you could have afforded Miller in the 1st place

Bryan Shaw and Carlos Santana are the only guys that are free after the 2017 year anyways. Those guys while vital to the team this year, can be replaced – whereas a guy like Miller is a game changer in his role. If they really need to keep the finances in line, they would be better served to dangle these players as trade bait first.

Terry Francona has won 2 Manager of the Year Awards in his 4 seasons in Cleveland. He is also underrated in his Bullpen management. The organization should let him have all of the weapons in the Relief Core. I think he should also run with the style he used in the playoffs to start the year. Worry about resting the guys later in the year if they come flying out of the gates early. This way of thinking could have us return to what Relievers used to be implored for in game use.

To Subscribe and listen daily to ‘Our Lead Personality’ Sully’s 20 Minutes Daily (every day since Oct.24, 2012) Podcast click here. Guaranteed listening to the Sully Baseball Daily Podcast will be the best time you invest in online!

These teams have combined for 8 out of the last 20 World Series wins (in 10 appeareancs – but at least one of them had represented in the AL during the playoffs for every year since the WildCard was alotted – until 2014 saw that come to an end. The last time neither team participated in the postseason prior to that was 1993. The Yankees ended up making the Wild Card Game in 2015 to start a new streak. The Bronx Bombers are struggling and aging rapidly, while Boston tries to see a bunch of new players all gel into a club that could contend. They are the ESPN Sunday night game on May 1st.

It was a bad year for the home clubs in MLB Season Openers in 2016. The road clubs won 19 of the 30 MLB Park openers. The worst defeat was at Petco Park (where the Padres lost 15 – 0).

The Cardinals featured the best win for the home side, working over the Brewers for a 10 – 1 win yesterday.

Of note, it was the last home park openers for David Ortiz and the great Vin Scully announced the lineup for his last Dodger Stadium opener, in what was the 30th home opener on the itinerary.

The American League went 5 – 10 and the National League went 6 – 9.

Baltimore, San Francisco, Chicago Cubs and Detroit were the only four clubs that won openers, that also won another home opener to which they were on the road.

The Cardinals had the most lopsided win at home winning 10 – 1, the Giants scored the most runs with 12, and the biggest loss and defeat for a home squad, was San Diego being bageled 15 – 0 by the Dodgers in Game 1 at Petco, in what turned out to be a 3 game home series where they were shutout in all games and outscored 25 – 0.

To end the stats here, the NL Central was the only winning division at 4 – 1, where the Brewers lost the only contest at Miller Park to the Giants.

To Start the Year, All Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays all carry 15 games after the 1st week (all 30 teams) and at least 1 interleague series. Monday and Thursday the games are varied, and there doesn’t have to be AL vs NL.

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance is not only a membership for writers, we also support podcasters/videocasters and vloggers. We have many talented people who are doing an awesome job covering the game of Major League Baseball. If you know a show that is good and think they should be on this page, check out our contact information and send us a note.

We have an outstanding amount of baseball fans that are doing audio and video presentations for the game of baseball that are not even being paid for it.

I would put the content of these shows up against a lot of the paid professionals of the MLB – or any other entity that possesses the wherewithal to be able to do that.

If you want to keep scrolling down, all of the information listed below is all of the shows for the week from all, or maybe you have a favorite, then you can just click on one of the highlighted shows.

In this opening week we had Sully Baseball talk a lot about the Pirates, D’Backs, Cubs and the Cardinals in opening week. He keyed on where Tim Lincecum may end up, and the opening start for Zack Greinke. Like everyone else, he also submitted his yearly predictions.

Sully also delivered an emotional podcast where he implores everyone to love their extended family more on April 2, 2016 – because you don’t know when you may lose some one.

For the last several years my buddy Josh Robbins and I have come up with ways to beat our individual world records for ballpark chasing.

My record is all 30 MLB Parks (every pitch) in just 23 Calendar Days. I accomplished this feat in 2012. You can read about that trip here. After scouring the MLB Schedule for 2016, there is not even an attempt to try for the record this season.

Unless it changes, it will be another campaign I will sip (Gas Monkey Cinnamon Tequilla) as the world record holder for another year.

Unlike in years past, however, there are some big changes to this year’s event. due to the current renovations being made at Progressive Field, Tribe Fest will be held at Aloft Cleveland Downtown and the Ernst & Young Tower lobby in Flats East Bank. not only that, but because of limited space, it’s just ONE day this year on January 30.

tickets for Tribe Fest are on sale now. you must purchase a general admission ticket–$5 for both adults and children–in order to attend. (NOTE: children under 3 are free.) like usual, fans can purchase general admission tickets alone, or bundle them with an autograph ticket. the two different autograph sessions to choose from are 9 am – 2 pm and 2 pm – 7 pm. while you cannot choose which specific player to get an autograph from, you can pick between a current Indians player ($20 ticket) or an alumni player ($25).

along with Michael, the following players have already confirmed to appear (although this is subject to change):

The Pirates finished in the top half of the league for attendance in the past year almost drawing 2.6 Million. They are the first game of the Season slated to be played. ESPN and MLB have announced at least 3 games for the opening Sunday date of Apr.2, 2015. and 4 more games will be televised on the Monday..

Attendance was up 162, 221 fans over the 2014 total, or 0.2%. The same five teams topped over 3 Million fans in 2015 as did in 2014. Dodgers, Cards, Giants, Yankees and Angels.

Philadelphia lost almost 600K fans year over year – and were the MLB’s club with the worst fall.

Oakland had that distinction the AL – taking a hit of 235K – amongst their 1st non playoff year in 4 seasons.

The World Series Royals set an all time franchise record for attendance in 2015, and had the biggest climb at the turnstiles at +752K. The club rounded out the top 10 for the MLB as well.

The Mets had the best jump in attendance at 420K in the NL. The other teams to eclipse a 400K jump were the Toronto Blue Jays (419K) Houston Astros (401K). All 3 teams made the postseason.Read the rest of this entry →

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Chuck Booth’s 30 MLB Parks Trip World Record Page

In 2012, Chuck Booth attended a complete game in all 30 MLB Parks in just 23 calendar days, click the image of he and Larry Lucchino to read all about it.

The MLB BallPark Pass-Port Is A Must Purchase For Those Planning To See All 30

The Ballpark Passport is quickly becoming the favorite item among Ballpark Chasers, to chronicle their life goal to see all 30 Major League Parks. You are able to receive the stamps kit for a small additional price. At around $75 all combined, it will contain one of the biggest memento's ever for a Ballpark Chaser's best bucket list wish ever#Greatgiftidea

Given yesterday’s news of George Springer’s hamstring injury, it seemed likely that one of the many outfielders thriving for Houston’s Triple-A affiliate in Round Rock would join the big league club shortly. Sure enough, Derek Fisher is getting the nod, per The Athletic’s Jake Kaplan (via Twitter). Fisher gets the call over fellow prospects Kyle Tucker,… […]

6:07pm: The deal has been announced. Kemp is headed to the club’s spring facility at Port St. Lucie. 4:16pm: The Mets have agreed to a minors pact with veteran outfielder Matt Kemp, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). Terms of the deal aren’t known; it’s pending a physical. Kemp opened the season with…

The Twins announced today that they have designated right-hander Austin Adams for assignment. His roster spot will go to fellow righty Zack Littell, who was recalled. Adams, 32, only got into a pair of games for the Twins. Unfortunately, he was knocked around yesterday. Beyond the difficult outing, the fact that Adams threw 43 pitches…

The Marlins announced today that outfielder Isaac Galloway has been designate for assignment. That creates 40-man space for the addition of Bryan Holaday, who is coming onto the roster as Chad Wallach hits the injured list with a concussion. Galloway, 29, is a career-long Marlin who finally got his first chance at the majors last…

The Mariners have released right-hander Tyler Danish from his minor league contract, Greg Johns of MLB.com reports (via Twitter). He’d been in his first year with the organization. Danish, 24, was the White Sox’ second-round pick back in the 2013 draft and was long considered to be one of the more promising arms in Chicago’s…